Chương 110: Interviews Part 1

"I still don't agree with you on this," Manager Halsey said firmly to Teft. She had come by to see if the final arrangements had been made and they had, but that did not make Manager Halsey feel any better about what he helped her do.

"I saw an opportunity and I took it. This way limits his worries. Once he has the power to…" Teft started.

"Limit his worries? Breaking his heart is more like it. He'll never forgive you for this."

"Perhaps. But he doesn't realize the danger he is facing. How everyone will try anything to control him. This way he can just worry about himself."

"Fine. The arrangements are finished. Levande is a good place. Close enough to Argentum to be safe but still out of the way."

"I've recorded a message," Teft said tapping on her tablet to send it to Manager Halsey.

"In case anything happens to me, make sure he knows. I'll see you tomorrow for the interviews." Teft walked out of Manager Halsey's office leaving the man looking at the message on his tablet. He briefly debated not playing Teft's game, but in the end he decided to follow her plan. No matter what she thought, the boy would never forgive her for this, but she was right. This way was best.

Ding {Quest Completed} [Quest: Learn a new language – Status: Complete – Reward: 100 Experience, 1 Store Credits] Ding {New Quest Available} [Quest: Increase Nashto Proficiency] [Description: You have learned the basics of the Nashto language giving you an edge over other magic initiates. Expand your knowledge of the language to delve deeper into the secrets of magic.] [Reward: 100 Experience, 100 Store Credit] For a brief moment Damion was thrilled when he completed his quest to learn the ancient magical language, when the moment faded, however, he was back to where he was before, alone. A few seconds later when the the new quest appeared he realized it was not as big of an accomplishment as he thought and his feeling of success turned to failure, compounded by his loss.

He was not sure what it meant to only have the basics of the Nashto language, but he guessed that if he wanted to improve his proficiency, he needed to study higher tier magic seals. Damion had thrown himself into the task of studying the seals, hoping to distract himself long enough to forget.

He still had no idea what it really meant for higher tier magic seals could not be recorded on paper, but with this change in his quest, Damion had a feeling higher tier magic seals were a lot more complicated than he thought. With his quest done, Damion decided to finally take a break, that was when he noticed the sun was coming up. Without even realizing it, Damion had worked through the night. Damion suddenly realized Ms. Teft had not given him the time for the meetings at the Adventurer Association.

Just that the meetings would be in the morning. As much as he would like not to go, not to bother with the representatives from other schools, he knew he had to put on a brave face, even if he had already made up his mind. Without knowing how much time he had until the meeting, Damion ran to the bathroom for a quick shower before he started something for breakfast. Once Damion was ready the sun was fully up, but it was still early in the morning.

In the corner of Damion's room his sword, armor and the rest of his adventuring kit rested. Given that he was on the cusp of becoming a C Rank mage, Damion knew he needed to start thinking about replacing his gear. Before that could happen though, Damion had to question how he was going to fight as a mage. If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Was he going to keep using a sword?

Did he need to keep his lightweight armor or was he going to start fighting from a distance like most mages or would he wear heavy armor that could take strong blows from anything that got close to him. His Icy Grasp and Ice Breath spells were only effective at close range. Ice Shield at least could block ranged attacks as well as be useful when fighting in melee range. These questions would take some time for Damion to answer, so for now he supposed there was no need to replace his gear.

Damion's gaze lingered on the sword his parent's had bought him when he earned his knight's license.

"I'm never trading you away," Damion said as he picked the sword up, holding it gingerly as he remembered. Damion quickly stored his sword in the Magic System's inventory, along with his large backpack that held a good portion of his gear. The rest of his gear Damion wore. His belt of purification, necklace of mend, and his armor. On his belt he attached his storage pouches that had the remainder of his kit and any items he might need immediate access to.

Once Damion was finished donning his gear he realized that there were very few things left in this house that meant anything to him. As he strolled through the house he noticed toys belonging to his sister were left on the floor, evidence of their hasty departure to the shelter. Trinkets his parents had collected over the years decorated the shelves along with a number of pictures, including a family portrait taken only a few weeks ago. Letting out a deep sigh, Damion headed to the door and left the house.

Out in the sunlight he felt some of the emotional pain wash off of him. Not wanting to look back and cause a resurgence of pain, Damion headed off to the Adventurer Association keeping his head forward. When Damion entered the Adventurer Association he found it much different than he had ever seen it before. Around the lounge and bar area were good number of adventurers sitting around.

That sight itself was not too unusual, what was unusual was that most of the adventurers were wearing bandages or nursing some sort of wound. Damion had never seen so many injured before and he briefly wondered why they had not gotten healed at one of the makeshift hospitals during the beast wave. Not wanting to linger on thoughts of the beast wave, Damion headed over to the clerk's desk to check on the time of his meetings in Manager Halsey's office.

"Mage Wells. I was told to expect you this morning," the clerk greeted Damion as soon as he approached.

"Please feel free to go right up to the Manager's office." Since Damion still remembered the way to Manager Halsey's office, he headed there directly. As Damion walked down the hallway towards Manager Halsey's office he noticed the door was open and manager Halsey was speaking with Ms. Teft.

"Ahh, good Mage Wells. Glad you arrived early," Manager Halsey greeted Damion when he saw him.

"Ms. Teft forgot to tell me the time of the meetings," Damion said quietly. Manager Halsey looked to Ms. Teft who just shrugged.

"I thought he might like to sleep in. I would have called the academies to reschedule if necessary."

"Understandable," Manager Halsey said looking at Damion.

"If you don't feel up to it, none of the academies would object, given your circumstances."

"It is fine. Best to get these meetings over with. And if I do it now and sound rude to them it can be written off as… well, I think they would just ignore it."

"Right you are," Manager Halsey said.

"Why don't you come in. Helga, if you would go and greet our first arrivals." Damion entered Manager Halsey's office and took a seat. The older mage quickly offered Damion a cup of tea, which Damion gingerly sipped on.

"First will be Mage Bianco. She is representing Erythraean Academy. With her as well as the other representatives, you should feel free to ask questions. No one is expecting you to give them an answer today. In fact, they will not pester you for an answer. You just tell me which school you would like to attend, and I will let each of the academies know your choice."

"Thank you Manager Halsey," Damion told him. He had been a bit worried of how to give a no to S Rank mages and thankfully, Manager Halsey had given him the solution. Damion was about to ask Manager Halsey about the three schools when the door opened and Mage Bianco walked in with Arica Miller. Arica appeared just as he remembered her from the last time he saw her. Though Damion could faintly tell she was more powerful now. He could sense more magic from her than he could in the past.

Nothing compared to Mage Bianco or Manager Halsey, but enough of a difference that told Damion she was probably a C Rank mage now.

"Mage Bianco, Mage Miller. Good to see you both again," Manager Halsey greeted.

"I'm very sorry to hear about your family," Arica said gently to Damion.

"When I heard I started out to see you right away. When Mage Bianco heard I was coming, she recruited me to help sway you to join Erythraean Academy."

"You reached C Rank I see," Damion greeted Arica, he did not want to talk about his family right now, even if it Arica meant well, he did not want Mage Bianco to see him hurting.

"I'm not sure, but I think you have as well."

"Why don't we find out for sure. I would be interested to see the magic power of a knight turned mage," Mage Bianco spoke up, interrupting Damion and Arica's happy reunion.